Previews

Preview: What's New in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim?

A rundown on all the new features, tweaks, and upgrades Bethesda is packing in.

Since Todd Howard took the stage at the Spike Video Game Awards in December to announce the fifth entry in Bethesda's acclaimed Elder Scrolls role-playing series, we've learned much and more about Skyrim. Through releases from Bethesda, interviews with the developers, demos, and even hands-on time, we've accumulated a veritable locked chest (expert in lock picking required) of information, and we've decided to crack it open and share our wealth of knowledge with you in one convenient place. So what's new in The Elder Scrolls V: Skryim? Find out for yourself below:

The New Engine: Goodbye, Gamebryo, hello Creation Engine! For Skyrim, the folks at Bethesda finally built an all new proprietary gameplay and graphics engine, and it makes the characters in Oblivion look last gen -- with an emphasis on last. The engine can produce superior environments thanks to upgraded dynamic lighting and new foliage and precipitation tech, and the people and beasts in those environments will also move in a far more realistic manner thanks to the new Havok Behaviour technology being used for animations (third-person-view players rejoice!).

And those villagers, bandits, and creatures won't just look better, they'll act like they've earned a degree in artificial intelligence thanks to the engine's Radiant AI technology. The system allows the devs to design people and animals that appear to truly live in Skyrim's world, working various jobs, eating, drinking, sleeping, killing… You should even expect to see carnivores on the hunt in the wild, as we witnessed in the E3 demo when a dragon swooped out of the sky to grab a woolly mammoth in its talons for a little late afternoon lunch.

The New Place: Welcome to Skyrim, the northernmost region of The Elder Scrolls' mythical world of Tamriel. It's a hard country, with sharp mountain ranges and arctic tundra, but there are also lush forests and open grassy plains. Less populated than Cyrodiil, Skyrim is roughly the same size as Oblivion's world geographically, and it features five large cities and a host of towns and villages. It's the home of the Nords, as well as new creatures like frost spiders, mammoths, frost trolls, ice wraiths, mountain giants, and of course, dragons.

A map of your soon to be RPG home.

The New Bad Guy(s): Skyrim's story is set roughly 200 years after the events portrayed in Oblivion. The king of Skyrim has been assassinated and the land is in turmoil. According to prophecy, it's the last event to occur before the return of Alduin, the Nordic god of destruction who returns to the world in the form of a big, bad, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm-esque dragon. And Alduin is bringing an army of dragon buddies with him. You'll face plenty of them in Skyrim, with dragons populating all parts of the region, and each fight will be a boss-level battle that promises unique rewards. Bethesda notes that these dragon battles are not scripted, so expect each and every one to be a unique challenge.

The New Character Creation: The visual character creation system in Skyrim has been given a major upgrade, allowing players to craft a hero with more distinct features, including a Chuck Norris-level beard. Face paint, scars, tattoos and more will also be on the table, allowing players to create their own unique character to take on Alduin and his minions. And don't worry about getting stuck in a particular class -- set classes have been thrown out the window in Skyrim, allowing players to develop a character based on the way they play the game. Use a ton of magic and you'll become a skillful mage; stick to sword and shield and your warrior muscles will be bulging by level 15.

As you make your way up to the theoretical level cap of 70 you won't have to worry about adding points in eight different attribute categories like in previous Elder Scrolls games. Instead, players will focus on increasing three attributes only: Health, Stamina, and Magicka – attributes directly linked to three master skill trees: Warrior, Thief, and Mage.

And last but not least, our favorite new aspect of character creation/development in Skyrim: Perks. Taking another page from its Fallout sibling, Skyrim will allow players to select a new skill-enhancing perk each time they level up. There will be 280 perks in all, Bethesda has confirmed, meaning players will have plenty to choose from. We've got our fingers crossed for the Skyrim version of Fallout: New Vegas' Mysterious Stranger perk.

We'll take one of those Dark Elves, and those saw-toothed short swords, as well.

The New Ambidextrous Combat System: Whether you're dual wielding weapons or you've got a dagger in your left and a spell in your right, you'll be using both hands to do battle in Skyrim. Heavily influenced by the combat system Irrational Games created for its underwater masterpiece, BioShock, Skyrim's new mechanics will allow for a host of gameplay possibilities and encourage players to get creative to find the best combinations to take down foes.

The New Defense: Few studios have rewarded players for backpedaling away from enemies while wildly attacking like Bethesda. But when you attempt that tried and true technique in Skyrim, you'll likely end up dead. To enhance the defense system, Bethesda has added a timing-based blocking system that requires players to position their shields appropriately to parry incoming blows, and backpedaling has been nerfed so players can't blindly run backwards as quickly as they run forward. And if you're struck while backpedaling, your character will likely stumble and fall, leaving you open to attack. The end result is a more balanced combat system that tasks players with focusing on defending as much as attacking.

The New Spell Casting: Mage's are in for a treat. With more than 85 spells from five different schools of magic (Alteration, Conjuration, Destruction, Illusion, and Restoration), there are plenty of different magical abilities to pursue and perfect.

Not only will players be able to wield a weapon in one hand and a spell in the other, those spells can be used in various ways. For example, if you press and release the button to quickly cast the Fireball spell, you'll launch a basketball-sized flaming orb at your enemy. But if you hold the button down and release the spell at its full strength, your hand will become a veritable flame thrower. Equip the same spell in both hands, and your attacks will double (while draining your magicka twice as fast). You can even mix and match, flame, frost, and shock spells for the best effects on varied enemies, and Bethesda has hinted that powerful spell combinations are there to be found in Skyrim.

Skyrim's new magic system let's you build up powerful spell attacks.

The New Rogue: Poor sad, weak bow and arrow. The weapon of choice for ranged players was never very impressive in Oblivion, no matter how good one's skill. But in Skyrim, the bow has become a formidable tool of assassination. Bethesda got the idea from playing an Oblivion mod where skillful players could take down foes with a single arrow. Yes, you too can now perform a one-hit kill with a bow and arrow in Skyrim (depending on the health of your foe and if your skill and equipment – not to mention aim – are good enough). Players will still zoom in to aim, but now, the longer a bow is drawn back, the more powerful the shot will be. And we hate to burst your bubble if you're suddenly envisioning an arrow-filled inventory and a quick conquest of Skyrim, but Bethesda has made arrows expensive and rare in the game. Treat those babies like gold.

In addition, Bethesda has tweaked the stealth system, making it more difficult for enemies to become alerted to your presence, and skillful rogues can sneak up on enemies and pull off one-hit assassinations. Oh, and the rogue's bread and butter, lock picking, has also been given an overhaul to mimic the mechanic found in Bethesda's Fallout franchise.